Nicole Kidman gives rare shoutout to ex-husband Tom Cruise in AFI lifetime achievement award speech

Nicole Kidman, 56, was honoured with the AFI lifetime achievement award for her 40-year career, which included films like Moulin Rouge and Eyes Wide Shut.

Nicole Kidman was honoured with the American Film Institute Lifetime Achievement Award on Sunday. While several of her co-stars were present to pay tribute to the Australian actor, it was another actor, her ex-husband Tom Cruise, who got a veiled shoutout in her acceptance speech, as per The Hollywood Reporter. (Also Read – Expats review: Nicole Kidman leads Lulu Wang's poignant and well-crafted series)

Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise were married for 11 years

What Nicole said

While accepting her award, in a part of her speech, Nicole thanked her co-stars and talked about learning from them. “Some of them you may never meet again and some of them you do meet again. Some of them you have incredible laughter and jokes with and you cry with; some of them you fall in love with, some of them you marry,” she said.

Nicole and Tom were married for 11 years, from 1990 till 2001. They met in 1989 on the sets of Days of Thunder. They adopted a son and a daughter during their marriage. She later clarified that she had a miscarriage at the end of their marriage. In an interview to Ladies' Home Journal, Nicole opened up on her marriage with Tom. “He was huge; still is. To me, he was just Tom, but to everybody else, he is huge. But he was lovely to me and I loved him. I still love him,” she had said.

Nicole's AFI award

Nicole is now married to country singer Keith Urban. She teared up when Keith said she showed him “what love in action really looks like” when his substance abuse problems emerged almost immediately after they wed in 2006.

“Four months into our marriage, I’m in rehab for three months,” Urban said, looking at Kidman where she sat on a dais with their two daughters and other family. “Nic pushed through every negative voice, I’m sure even some of her own, and she chose love. And here we are 18 years later," he added.

Nicole said the night was the first time she allowed their teenage daughters to join her on a red carpet.

Nicole will be next seen in the movies A Family Affair, Holland, Michigan, and Babygirl, along with the shows, The Perfect Couple and The Last Anniversary.